What’s the greatest moment in Winternationals history? Careful now, we’re talking about 49 years of thrills and spills at Pomona Raceway and that requires some thinking.

As part of the milestone 50th “Big Go West,” as the NHRA season opener was called for so many years, the sanctioning body is asking fans to choose their favorites from a list of 25 such moments compiled by an expert panel. Voting will run through midnight Dec. 31 on NHRA.com.

Results will be revealed in the run-up to the 2010 Winternationals. Starting with No. 25, the list will be revealed in reverse order and the top five will be announced during race week. The top moment will be revealed in Sunday’s pre-race festivities on Feb. 14.

There’s no doubt there have been some great moments at Pomona. Did you know Don Garlits, Don Prudhomme and Bill Jenkins won their first NHRA races there? Or that Shirley Shahan’s breakthrough as the first woman to win a major NHRA event also was at the Fairplex?

Pomona also was where Garlitos unveiled his rear-engine Swamp Rat, a Top Fuel dragster, or where Eddie Hill went through the light backward and upside down after a blowover.

Other selected moments include Bob Muravez winning in a twin-engine dragster using the pseudonym Floyd Lippencott (1963), Roland’s Leong’s first Hawaiian Funny Car sailing backward through the finish-line lights (1969), snow at the starting line (1979), the first seven-second Pro Stock pass by the late Lee Shepherd (1972), American Kenny Bernstein and Aussie Graeme Cowin competing in Funny Car at the same time as the America Cup (1987), K.C. Spurlock won in his Funny Car debut (1991), Larry Dixon and Ron Capps winning in Prudhomme cars (1998) and Robert Hight winning in Funny Car in his show car (2006).

Alcohol dragsters and Funny Cars may create too much noise at Auto Club Dragway on the Auto Club Speedway grounds in Fontana, but the restrictions won’t deter the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series in 2010.

Developed in 2008 to help preserve NHRA’s rich history and tradition, it provided racing opportunities for nostalgia drag racing enthusiasts. The dates for the Fontana event are April 23-25.

Nostalgia Top Fuel dragsters and Nostalgia Funny Cars are the nitro categories in the series along with two additional groups.

Group 1 includes Jr. Fuel, A-Fuel, AA/Gas, and 7.0 Pro, while Group 2 includes NE I, NE II, NE III, A/Gas, B/Gas, C/Gas, D/Gas and Hot Rod. Each class will score points and conclude the season

“We’re looking forward to our third year of the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series and are grateful for the support shown from our affiliate tracks around the country,” said Steve Gibbs of the sanctioning body. “The series combined with the Hot Rod Reunions and the NHRA Wally Parks Motorsports Museum demonstrates NHRA’s commitment to maintaining the history of our sport.”

The nine-race series will open with with the March Meet on March 5-7 at the Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield. The California Hot Rod Reunion at Famoso, a non-points meet, will conclude the season.

There won’t be any cameras and not much action, but Kasey Kahne is scheduled to make his Ford debut next week during a Goodyear tire test at Auto Club Speedway.

Kahne spent the last several years in a Dodge. He’s under contract to Richard Petty Motorsports, which started the 2009 NASCAR Spriny Cup Series in a Dodge but will switch to Fords as part of the merger with Yates Racing.

As part of the merger, Kahne will drive the new Roush Yates engine and it looking forward to getting a chance to use it.

“Just seeing what Elliott (Sadler) and AJ (Allmendinger) did, and knowing where they were before that, it’s gonna be a nice benefit,” Kahne said. “I get to go drive with it in a few days at Fontana during a tire test, so I’m looking forward to working with some of that new group and our guys as well.

“I’m excited because it’s a change and it’s a change that needed to be done in that area.”

Kahne made the changes despite numerous changes and developments at RPM and won once during the season. He said that has him ready to deal with the future.

“I think it shows that we’re used to changes and used to them always throwing something new at us and just kind of taking care of our business and taking care of the things that we can control,” Kahne said. “As a driver, I try to do the best job I can with things I can control, and I know (crew chief) Kenny Francis and all the guys on our team do the same thing.

“So it’s nice to have that type of a team that realizes, `Let’s do the best we can at what we can control,’ and, other than that, we’ll get what we get.”

Rick McCray will add two classes in 2010 to the Orange Show Speedway schedule and has made room for appearances by the SRL Spears Southwest Series, Lucas Oil SuperClean Modifieds and USAC open-wheel cars.

The tentative schedule has 29 Saturday night racing dates for the 63rd season of racing at the quarter-mile track. The American Speed Association again will sanction the racing.

Best in the West Racing, Inc. will manage the season that starts March 20 with a 100-lap Super Late Model event and conclude Oct. 16, with a 200-lap race for the same division. There will be racing every Saturday night except on Easter weekend (April 3) and Memorial Day weekend (May 29) and will feature a fireworks show July 3.

Super Late Models and Late Models are the track’s premier divisions. Dwarf Cars and Stock OHV Karts have been added but the Pro 4 division has been phased out. USAC Western Sprint cars, Ford Focus Midgets and Junior Focus Midgets and National Midget Racing Association Three-Quarter Midgets also will make appearances.

At Perris Auto Speedway, promoter Don Kazarian has added four more dates to the 2010 USAC/CRA Sprint Car schedule over the half-mile clay oval.

The initial races, the Sokola Shootout, are set for Feb. 26-27 and also will feature the USAC Western & USAC National Midgets.

The Jack Kindoll Hall of Fame Classic is Sept. 18 and the 15th annual Budweiser Oval Nationals are set for Nov. 4-6. The Glenn Howard Memorial concludes the season Nov. 27.

It will mark the seventh season of USAC/CRA Sprint Car racing at The PAS.

As if there weren’t enough television shows with NASCAR as a focus, make room for the latest.

Showtime and NASCAR have signed a multi-year deal for a weekly highlights and analysis show, “Inside NASCAR.” The 38-week show will premiere at 10 p.m. on Feb. 10 and be patterned after Inside the NFL. The NASCAR show ironically will follow the season finale of “Inside The NFL.”

No casting has been announced for the one-hour shows. According to Showtime Inside NASCAR “will feature narrated highlights and in-depth analysis from each week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, exclusive audio and video of never-before-seen aspects of race week and in-depth feature stories plus forecasts on upcoming races and opinions.”

That’s because the show will be produced in conjunction with NASCAR Media Group. It also will be taped at the new, state-of-the-art production facility at NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C.

“NASCAR is one of the most powerful sports brands in the country,” said Ken Hershman, senior vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports, “and we are proud to team up with them on this compelling new series.”

Translation: We want hard-core and brand loyal NASCAR fans to subscribe to Showtime if they aren’t already paying.

“Given the level of access to drivers, tracks and teams afforded by NASCAR, we can offer something truly unique to both hard core and casual race fans,” Hershman said. “We’ll take viewers into new areas of the sport, into the hearts and minds of the world class drivers and teams and give them inside access to stock car racing and NASCAR like never before.”

Does Fox or ABC/ESPN know this? How about Speed? They all have shows that focus on NASCAR.